The biogas plant at Stahlbush Island provides electricity for about 1,100 homes, nearly twice what the farm and plant use yearly. The $10 million project took 14 months to complete. Blueberries are the farm’s biggest seller.

// Photo by Alexandra Shyshkina

A traditional disc runs at 4.5 mph; the faster 12 mph Amazone Catros Disc will eliminate several passes in the field, which not only saves time and money but is also better for the soil. “Every time you till the soil, you’re basically wrecking the houses where insects live,” Chambers says. “So the more you can reduce that tillage the better.” Common in Europe, the high-speed disc will be one of the first in use on the West Coast, he says. The new weeder, from Garford Farm Machinery in England, yields similar benefits. With the help of a computer-controlled camera, the machine will weed nine rows at a time at high speed and very close accuracy, says Chambers.

Neither piece of equipment comes cheap. The disc is about $58,000 and the weeder about $50,000. High capital costs can deter investment in more efficient technologies and systems, says Chambers, who was the first in Oregon to use a satellite-guided tractor. “But most everything in agriculture you have to take the long view.” As energy costs go up, he says, many new technologies will eventually pay for themselves.

“We are always trying to be more efficient and come up with better ways to preserve quality or make our product better,” says Chambers, describing his pragmatic approach to innovation. Be it a biogas plant or high-tech automated weeder, Chambers says his desire to adopt new technologies arises from “walking around the farm and solving problems. I’ve always been a curious kid.”

BY JACOB PALMER

BY JASON NORRIS, CFA | OB GUEST BLOGGER

Pets.com, GeoCities, eToys, and WorldCom … blasts-from-the-past that all signify the late 1990s Internet bubble. Yet we believe the dynamics of the market, specifically in technology stocks, are much different today than it was during the late 1990s.

Brand Stories

BY KATRINA WALKER

Generations of students and graduates have been plagued by the question: What is my true calling in life? Four alumni from Corban University’s Hoff School of Business who graduated in different decades say the school helped them find the answer by giving them a practical, well-rounded education.

It’s happening whether anyone’s ready or not. Businesses here in Oregon and across the U.S. are already experiencing the effects of the largest generational shift in recent history, and these changing tides will impact every level of the workplace — from a company’s executive leadership to its cultural core.

The Oregon Chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services, will be hosting it’s Annual Dinner and Keynote event on March 12, 2015. The evening promises to be memorable, with this years Keynote, Christine McKinley.